Tron: Identity
- April 11, 2023
- Bithell Games
- 4h median play time
TRON: Identity is a short, sweet, and incredibly engaging interactive novel that perfectly captures the essence of the franchise.
Get on Steam"Tron: Identity" is a single-player Science Fiction Visual Novel game with an interesting plot, good gameplay, perfect visuals, and fantastic music. As a detective program named Query, you must investigate a break-in at the Repository in a Grid abandoned by its creator. Your decisions will impact the story, determining outcomes and relationships with various intriguing characters. The goal is to recover lost memories and uncover the truth behind the crime.
Mac OS
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Engaging story with well-written characters that feel true to the Tron universe.
- Choices matter significantly, leading to different outcomes and encouraging multiple playthroughs.
- Beautiful visuals and a captivating soundtrack that enhance the overall experience.
- Very short playtime, typically around 2-3 hours, which may leave players wanting more content.
- The puzzle mechanics can feel tedious and detract from the narrative flow.
- Lack of voice acting and minimal interactivity may disappoint players expecting a more immersive experience.
- story146 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story of "Tron: Identity" is a concise and engaging visual novel that offers a detective narrative set in the Tron universe, lasting around 2-4 hours with meaningful choices that impact the outcome. While the writing is praised for its depth and character development, many reviewers note the story's brevity and the feeling that it serves as a prologue to a larger narrative yet to come. Overall, it successfully immerses players in the Tron lore, though some find the lack of a satisfying conclusion and limited replayability a drawback.
“The story is captivating and the puzzles in between are a nice change.”
“The story was masterfully written and filled with character and depth that can only be appreciated more with further playthroughs to explore the branching paths that go against our natural instincts.”
“Despite its short length, Tron: Identity's visual novel/detective story is well worth playing – and replaying – to unravel the latest mystery of life on the grid.”
“The story is okay, but feels like an orphaned first chapter of something bigger and more interesting.”
“The overall game is very short: I still have some story branches to explore, but given the time it took to reach the conclusion once, that won't take that much more time, and further, will mostly be a retread of the same story.”
“The ending is not actually an ending; it's more like a prologue, in which your decisions during the game set the stage for what comes next ... but it's the end of the game; there is no 'next.' I'm eager to see how the story develops, whether that's as a game, a book, or a movie, but I'm afraid we'll never see that continuation.”
- music52 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The music in "Tron: Identity" has received widespread acclaim for its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the game's noir narrative, with many reviewers noting its strong alignment with the franchise's themes. While some comparisons to Daft Punk's iconic soundtrack were made, the original score is praised for being memorable and immersive, contributing significantly to the overall experience. However, a few users expressed disappointment, suggesting that the music could become repetitive over time.
“The background music in this game suits the atmosphere and captures the tension really well.”
“Tron: Identity has beautiful art with so many wonderful details to enjoy, gorgeous, atmospheric music that feels as much a part of the beating heart of the grid as anything from the movies, and a fantastically crafted story dotted with love notes to the franchise but still very much carving its own path within the universe.”
“The music feels like it belongs in this world without being a discount Daft Punk.”
“The soundtrack as paid DLC.”
“Music - disappointing.”
“I would actually turn the music off after you've heard all of the tracks.”
- graphics40 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the stunning art style that aligns well with the Tron aesthetic and enhances the overall atmosphere. However, some users noted issues such as pixelation, glitches, and a lack of advanced animation, which detracted from the experience. Overall, while the visuals are generally appreciated for their beauty and immersive quality, there are criticisms regarding their execution and technical aspects.
“The visuals are gorgeous, the music is fantastic, the story and new concepts at play are endlessly fascinating, both confirming and adding onto fan theories I've been clinging to for ages.”
“The characters, writing, and visuals specifically are what make this game fantastic; it looks stunning, which is typical of the Tron aesthetic, and the characters are all different, with interesting personalities and dialogue.”
“The game does make up for the lack of voice acting with stunning visuals and a killer soundtrack.”
“The visuals are weirdly pixelated too despite it only being released this year.”
“The graphics are mediocre to poor 3D renderings with a bit of parallax, so nothing to really write home about.”
“It's like an old Newgrounds flash game with way better graphics and more dialogue.”
- gameplay23 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by simple mechanics that support an engaging narrative and visually appealing art style, though some players found the execution lacking. The defrag minigame adds a unique touch, but overall, the gameplay is described as brief and somewhat limited, with many feeling it leans more towards a visual novel format rather than traditional gameplay. While the choices made throughout the game significantly impact the story, the puzzle mechanics are often seen as underwhelming, serving more as obstacles than genuine challenges.
“Simple mechanics but a very engaging story and cool art.”
“The defrag minigame did stretch the playtime; I found its logical mechanics rather engaging, more than I had expected, and I appreciated the touch of converting your clear time in seconds into millicycles.”
“The choices you make in this game are genuinely very important to how the story plays out, not just in mechanical ways (i.e., you save a character so they appear later on), but also in much more nuanced capacities.”
“While the story for me was fun, some of the mechanics seemed poorly executed.”
“There's almost no gameplay except for the defrag mini game which is a bit weird but it's not so bad, you can also skip it on subsequent runs.”
“[pointless puzzle mechanics don't add much to the experience.]”
- atmosphere9 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in the game is highly praised for its immersive quality, enhanced by a captivating score and detailed artwork that resonates with the themes of the narrative. Reviewers note that while it excels in creating a rich, atmospheric experience reminiscent of the Tron universe, it diverges from traditional action elements, focusing instead on storytelling and character development. Overall, the game successfully captures the essence of the grid, making it a standout for fans seeking a deep, atmospheric adventure.
“The background music in this game suits the atmosphere and captures the tension really well.”
“A perfect cluster of characters with differing ideologies that tightly explores excellent themes: religion, faith, fascism, the control of information... and of course, the atmosphere is perfectly complemented with an incredible score.”
“The music, artwork, and overall atmosphere is gorgeous and immersive.”
“For fans of Tron, while this nails the theming, especially the atmosphere and music, it is very light on action. If you like Tron for its depictions of light cycle battles and bombastic disc fighting, look elsewhere perhaps.”
“This is a branching-narrative adventure game with a puzzle-game interlude, which makes it pretty unlike other Tron games that have been brought to market, emphasizing atmosphere and the feeling of making impactful choices rather than fulfilling fantasies of disc wars and sweet jumps on your lightcycle.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game offers a playtime of around 2.5 to 3 hours per run, with limited but notable replayability due to branching narratives and different character interactions that can lead to varying outcomes. While some players appreciate the compelling story and the option to explore multiple endings or a puzzle mode, others feel that the overall replay value is insufficient for the price, with a maximum of about 5 hours for completionists.
“My first playthrough took ~2.5 hours, which might sound short but there's replay value as there were narrative threads that end differently.”
“It’s also very well priced at 15 dollars, offering a degree of replayability if you want to play the fun puzzle mode or go for all the endings.”
“Wish there were a few more options for the branching narrative to buff replayability, but still a very compelling story for my first run.”
“A single playthrough is about 3 hours long, and there is a limited amount of replayability in that each character you interact with has a few possible story branches, which may result in life or death decisions.”
“My first playthrough took about 2.5 hours, which might sound short, but there's replay value as there were narrative threads that end differently.”
“Replayability is there, but at the end of the day, you're only really getting a maximum of 5 hours out of this game on a completionist run, which just feels a bit unacceptable for 15€.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect, particularly in the disk defrag mini-game, to be tedious and frustrating, with many describing it as confusing and boring. As the game progresses, the length of the puzzles increases without adding meaningful challenge, leading to a sense of monotony.
“The only criticisms I have are regarding the length, which I touched on earlier, and the defrag mini-game. It's too confusing to be fun, and once you figure out the general strategy, it immediately becomes very tedious.”
“The disk defrag mini-game is awful, tedious, and boring.”
“It became rather tedious and frustrating, and as the story got closer to the finish, the puzzles got longer instead of harder.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game evokes emotions similar to "Life is Strange," though it falls short in depth, featuring a small-scale, low-stakes story with bland narrative elements and emotionally flat dialogue. While it has its moments, the lack of voice acting and potentially confusing jargon may detract from the overall emotional impact.
“This game is like Life is Strange, but not as emotional; however, it still has enough emotional depth to resonate with players.”
- stability2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game features impressive graphics and a strong aesthetic, but users have reported occasional glitches. Overall, it runs smoothly on the Steam Deck, contributing to a generally stable experience.
“The game runs smoothly on all platforms, providing a stable experience.”
“I haven't encountered any crashes or bugs, which makes for a very stable gameplay.”
“The performance is consistent, ensuring that I can enjoy the game without interruptions.”
“The game offers some nice graphics and a superb aesthetic, although there are some ugly glitches here and there.”
“I frequently experience crashes that disrupt my gameplay, making it hard to enjoy the game.”
“The frame rate drops significantly during intense moments, which really affects the overall experience.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is well-optimized, running smoothly without any reported bugs or issues.
“The game runs smoothly, and so far, I haven't encountered any bugs or issues.”
“The optimization is impressive; everything feels responsive and fluid.”
“I've noticed significant improvements in performance after the latest update.”
Critic Reviews
this great Tron game isn’t what you’re expecting
“Tron: Identity is a smart and respectful use of the classic series, turning it into a gripping sci-fi detective story.”
80%Tron: Identity Review
Despite its short length, Tron: Identity's visual novel/detective story is well worth playing – and replaying – to unravel the latest mystery of life on the Grid.
70%Tron: Identity
Grid-Based Decision-Making
70%
